lobbyist

noun

lob·​by·​ist ˈlä-bē-ist 

plural lobbyists

: one who conducts activities aimed at influencing or swaying public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation : a person engaged in lobbying public officials

The new rule says that if you were a registered lobbyist in the past two years, you can't work for the administration on any issue you touched. After you leave government, you can't lobby the administration at all.

—Jacob Weisberg

Because so many lobbyists have past experience on Capitol Hill, they usually have personal ties both to members of congress and to their key staffers, who vet and prioritize the earmark requests.

—Ken Silverstein

Examples of lobbyist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Prosecutors accused Williamson of conspiring with Sacramento lobbyist Greg Campbell and former Deputy State Attorney General Sean McCluskie to steal campaign funds from McCluskie’s boss, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, to pad McCluskie’s salary. —Kate Wolffe, Sacbee.com, 26 Nov. 2025

Over 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists were accredited, roughly one in every 25 participants. —Paul Polman, Time, 25 Nov. 2025

Doherty suspected that the lobbyists representing Morrow County business interests were working behind the scenes to thwart an aggressive state-level intervention. —Sean Patrick Cooper, Rolling Stone, 24 Nov. 2025

The play stars Stephen Kunken as an oil lobbyist named Don Pearlman, who addresses the audience at the outset. —Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lobbyist

• hobbyist